Shimogakure
by shendothepowerful
Summary: After searching the lands around Konoha five ninja are found and taken back to the village. They come from a place no one has heard of and they have mysterious abilities. But why after all that has happened in the past, should Konoha trust complete strang
1. Chapter 1

Hey everyone. If anyone's actually reading this, you probably don't know me unless you're a die-hard fan. I've never written in this particular section before. I don't know how much I'll be updating this. I'm mostly just using this story to practice writing the characters in an original fiction story of mine. As for reviews, they are most welcome except for flames. I much prefer constructive criticism to someone yelling about how much they hate my story.

Shimogakure

By: Shendo Pendragon

**Shikamaru's Report**

_What a drag. I should be watching the clouds go by right now. Instead I'm on this stupid mission. Why was I the one stuck with surveying the land within the fifty-mile radius of Konohagakure? Ugh. Scouting is such a pain. Especially when something happens along the way. A total of five bodies have been located near the village. Two females and three males. All children. The medic-nin on my team assures me that they are all still alive. We also discovered another body further away. This time a woman, probably in her late 30's though I cannot be sure. The autopsy states that she has been dead for at least a day. We brought the live one's back to the village and they're currently in a stable condition, resting in the hospital. Excluding what has been said above, there have been no incidences or casualties._

Tsunade, the current Hokage (Konoha's leader), looked up from the report she was reading. Shikamaru, Konoha's laziest Ninja was still standing in front of her, waiting for her confirmation so that he could leave. He didn't get it. Instead, she delved deeper into the subject.

"Do you know anything else about the children?"

"I did not get a chance to interrogate them. When I last checked, they were still unconscious. They're clothing is casual and nothing they are carrying suggests anything about them that we don't already know, except for one of the males who was carrying several kunai knives. However, we didn't search them too thoroughly, if you know what I mean, and we may have overlooked some things."

"Well, go back to the hospital and wait for one of them to wake up. You will interrogate that person."

"Why me?"

"Because no one else happens to be in the room at this time. Besides, Ibiki happens to be busy and you have nothing better to do. And no, staring at the sky does not count as something better to do."

Shikamaru grunted and left the room. Tsunade smirked slightly as she went back to her paperwork.

About a half an hour later, one of the newcomers had woken up to find that he wasn't in the forest anymore, and he couldn't remember exactly what had happened. Instead, he was lying in bed in what he was quite certain was a hospital. He wasn't alone in the hospital room, either. A boy about two or three years younger than him was sitting in a chair nearby, staring out the window. Might as well get his attention.

"Can I help you?"

"Well, yes. You can. I've been put in the annoying position of figuring out where you're from and if you're any threat to our village. We've been extra cautious after the things that happened here. So if you would be so kind as to answer my questions, this can go by fast enough and I can go back to watching the clouds."

"Fair enough. Go ahead and ask away."

"Well, first off, what's your full name?"

"Call me Libra. I have no last name."

"Libra, as in the Zodiac?"

"Yeah, as in the Zodiac."

"So, Libra, where are you from?"

"The Name of the village I'm from is hardly important. Besides, I doubt you'd have heard of it. Not many have."

"How about you humor me?"

"Fine, the place is called Shimogakure. Like I said, you won't have heard of it. It's a long ways off from here."

"If it's such a long ways away, why are you here?"

"Well, how can I put this? Shimogakure wasn't actually a hidden village until about twelve years ago. Before then it was an icy wasteland. But one day, a man with a vision came along with his plans of conquest. First he experimented on some poor souls who were down on their luck, promising greatness. Only twelve survived and they became the founding members of Shimogakure. They took on the names of the twelve members of the zodiac, having no names of they're own. You've probably figured out that I'm one of the twelve, hence the name."

"But you aren't much older than me. How could you possibly be a founding member twelve years ago? You were a baby then."

"Actually, I was three at the time. But, you're right. A toddler doesn't make much of a founder of a ninja village. In fact, I didn't do any founding. The other members did all of it. But the fact that I had survived the gruesome experiments that had taken so many lives was good enough for everyone else so I got credit for it anyways. Well before I was so rudely interrupted I was getting to the most important part. Together, the twelve of us defeated many ninja. At first, we were only strong enough to beat genin, but as our skills progressed we could take on higher-level ninjas. The survivors of our many battles were judged. If deemed worthy, they would become our servants. If not, they were killed. After awhile, our small group became an army. Soon we'll be powerful enough to stand up to Konoha."

"Great, so there's a powerful force out there, and you decided go way out of your way to tick them off by traveling all the way over here and betray your village by revealing your plans to us. Sounds like such a pain and a little too good to be true. Where's your motivation?"

"Well, let's just say my Ideals don't match theirs. For one thing, I'm not as fond of bloodshed as some of the others. On average, we're a merciless, cold, savage, bloodthirsty lot. But a few of us aren't. I for one despise what the others stand for. A few of the others that share my conviction came with me. We were followed and got separated into groups. There were even a couple of casualties…"

A pause. On closer inspection, Shikamaru discovered that Libra's eyes were watering ever so slightly. He waited as he regained his composure.

"I'm sorry, I showed a little bit more emotion than I would have liked. The basic idea behind my story is that I didn't come here simply to double-cross Shimogakure. I'm here to ask for help. It's in our mutual interest to put and end to Shimogakure. Oh yeah and where's the ramen shop? I'm starved and everyone knows that hospital food sucks."

"But what about all that stuff about stopping Shimogakure?"

"We'll handle that later. Right now, I'm hungry."

"You can't leave the hospital."

"Watch me."

With that, Libra got out of bed and headed for the window. Sliding it up, he jumped out the window. What he didn't realize was that his room was on the fifth floor.

"GAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

THUD

"I'm ok."

Shikamaru sighed.

"I guess I'm going to be the one who has to look after him. What a drag."

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Sorry about the weird ending. It was getting too serious for my tastes and my twisted sense of humor had to cut in. Oh well. Hopefully I'll do better in the next chapter. Please R & R and tell me what you thought.

Shendo


	2. Chapter 2

Well, here's chapter two, I hope you enjoy. Oh, and thanks for the review. I was afraid no one was reading this.

Chapter 2

The ramen shop was crowded. Libra had to wait in line for a while before he was able to get his food. In the mean time, he pondered what he was going to do next. Of course the medics were going to discover some of the oddities that his team had. But he had already explained that to Shikamaru. He did feel however that the nature of his friends' abilities should be kept in the dark for now. It was always best to keep everything on a need to know basis.

As Libra adjusted his glasses he noticed someone at the far side of the ramen shop. It was _him_. Libra immediately left the shop and ran into Shikamaru outside. He quickly put on a straight face and hoped Shikamaru hadn't seen his look of fear. That would lead to unwanted questions. If Shikamaru did notice he didn't show it. Libra sighed quietly. He was pretty sure the man in the Ramen shop hadn't seen him.

Unfortunately he was still hungry and he wasn't about to go back in the ramen shop. But Shikamaru knew he wanted Ramen. How was he going to get out of going back in the shop? He was trying to think of a way out of the situation when Shikamaru simply walked into the shop. A few minutes later he walked out, mumbled about how the place was crowded and motioned Libra to follow him to a new location.

Where exactly they were now headed for, Libra never found out because their journey was interrupted by a loud feminine voice.

"Shikamaru! There you are! You're late! Asuma wanted to meet you over an hour ago! What are you doing in this part of town? Hey, who's this?"

"Ino, this is Libra. He's new here. I was just showing him around town. Libra, this is my teammate, Ino. She's a real pain in the neck."

"Hey! I ought to slap you! But we've got to get moving. Come on!"

With that, Ino proceeded to drag Shikamaru off to meet Asuma, whoever that was. Libra was left standing there in awkward silence. He was now left alone in a village he didn't know. He was lost. He probably couldn't even find the hospital now. At this point he was reduced to walking up to a random stranger to ask for directions.

"Excuse me but would you by any chance be able to lead me to the hospital? I have to check on some friends."

"Of course I can get you there! Believe it!"

"Believe what? That you can get me there? Why wouldn't I believe you?"

Libra eyed the stranger and decided that this was probably the wrong person to ask. But it was to late now, for the blonde had completely ignored his question and was now dragging him along. As they went, he began to wonder about the mental health of the people here. A certain someone he knew would fit in here perfectly.

"Hey Libra! You're back! I missed you! The others haven't woken up yet. Who's that hottie with you? Can I have him? Please?"

Speak of the devil. It just had to be her that woke up and not one of the others. Libra wished desperately for someone sane to talk to. But that would have to wait. The girl who had spoken up was headed in their direction. Libra's blonde companion was now confused, and he was about to get more confused. For when the girl was within arms reach, she cuddled up real close to the poor unsuspecting boy and wrapped her arms around him in a death grip. Meanwhile, a certain shy girl with pupil-less eyes was watching from a safe distance and started having conniptions. Libra decided to intervene.

"Alex, will you please let go of him so he can introduce himself."

He turned to the other boy, who was completely stunned, to say the least.

"You'll have to forgive Alex. She's…different.

The boy regained his composure as he introduced himself.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, believe it!"

"Do you always say that?"

"Say what?"

"You know, 'believe it!"

"I don't know, why?"

"Nevermind."

"Another hottie!"

"What the…let go of me. I don't even know you. Man this is such a drag."

Libra watched, exasperatedly as Alex tried to nuzzle a very reluctant Shikamaru, who was looking desperately at Ino and two other people who he brought with him. One of them, a noticeably chubby kid laughed while the other, an older man with a beard and cigarette, gave Shikamaru suggestive looks. Ino's eye twitched ever so slightly as she put on an extremely fake smile.

"Is this what you wanted to skip training for?"

"Libra, get your friend off me. I can't breathe."

"Alex, how about you save your weird urges for when Lem's awake."

"LEM! Aw, man when's he gonna wake up so I can smother him with my love?"

Libra shrugged helplessly. He knew Lem was going to kill him for this. The guy had been the main target of her affections for as long as Libra could remember. But Lem was always less than enthusiastic. Libra silently begged the heavens that Lem was in a rational mood when he woke up.

Eventually they were met with a medic-nin who wished to speak with Libra.

"Excuse me sir, but we've encountered some complications with one of your companions. It's the overly-pale one. He has some sort of disease. We can operate but we need your permission. Also you should know that some of disease has made it's way into the vital organs. To completely get rid of it is to risk killing him in the process."

"Leave him be. I'm not about to take any risks."

"Are you sure?"

"He would not benefit from any operation, let me assure you. He's had that disease for awhile. Trying to get rid of it at this point is more dangerous than you can possibly imagine. Quarantine him if need be, but don't touch him otherwise."

The medic-nin nodded and walked away. Meanwhile, Libra realized he was still very hungry and his stomach began to make noises one would typically not want to hear in a jungle. Alex stared at him and giggled to herself. Naruto spoke up.

"Let's get something to eat!

The chubby boy, who introduced himself as Chouji, cheered and immediately began to lick his chops in anticipation. They all headed off to a barbeque place that the guy with the cigarette, Asuma, suggested. All except Ino, bid them farewell, saying she needed to check up on the family flower shop.

At the restaurant, everyone had just picked out what they wanted to eat. Chouji, of course, got the most and was quite ready to stuff himself while the others watched. Libra had struck up a conversation with Shikamaru, Alex sat by Naruto with a smirk on her face that always meant trouble, Naruto was slowly edging away from her, and Asuma was busy trying to figure out how much all of chouji's food was going to cost this time. None of them noticed that the man that Libra spotted in the Ramen shop had been following them. He had found two of his targets, and as soon as they were out of public view, he would strike.

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Hm. This isn't one of my better chapters. Hopefully the next one will be much better. I hope you enjoyed Alex' character. She's one of if not the main reason why the rating is what it is. You'll be introduced to the other characters later on.

Shendo


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